Brian Murphy: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 5
MVP: Kevin Durant
X-Factor: Cleveland’s defense will prove itself unable to contain the Warriors over the course of four quarters. Cleveland’s defense will wither in this matchup.
Paulie McCaffrey: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 6
MVP: Draymond Green
X-Factor: Steph Curry’s offensive punch. He’s going to do his thing. He’s had a hell of a postseason this year.
Patrick Connor: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 6
MVP: Steph Curry. He’s going to put up 35 points per game.
X-Factor: Kevin Love is held in check. Bye-bye Kevin, you’re silent dude. You’re going to be wiped off the history books from last year. LeBron is going to go off, Kyrie is going to go off but then your third-best player is held in check. Held way below his season averages. The defense on Love is the X-factor.
Larry Krueger: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 5
MVP: Steph Curry. He’s yet to be an MVP, I think he’s going to step up.
X-Factor: David West. When the game slows down at different junctures, West’s ability to find Curry and Klay Thompson on curls and runners and lay-ins, his ability to pass the ball in the half court is something they didn’t have last year. It was invaluable against the Spurs.
Gary Radnich: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 6. It’s been awhile since I’ve been this excited to watch something. The Giants won three titles, great. I’m talking about the build-up. When you’ve got all these stars and LeBron chasing Michael Jordan in some respects, I think it’s going to be unbelievable.
MVP: Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Co-MVPs.
X-Factor: If Klay Thompson shoots better than he did than the previous three rounds, then boom, it’ll be lights out for Cleveland.
Bob Fitzgerald: KNBR 680 Host, Warriors play-by-play broadcaster
Series prediction: Warriors in 5
MVP: Draymond Green
X-Factor: Draymond’s ability to neutralize Kevin Love, play center and be the hub of the Warriors’ offense.
Rod Brooks: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 5
MVP: Draymond Green
X-Factor: The Warriors ability to execute with precision on offense and defense
Tom Tolbert, KNBR 680 host, former Warrior
Series prediction: Warriors in 6. The last two series have ended on the other teams’ home court. Let’s just go ahead and keep it there. The Warriors win it in Cleveland like they did two years ago.
MVP: Steph Curry. He didn’t get it two years ago, obviously he didn’t get it last year. But he was good enough to get it two years ago, just Andre Iguodala was such a big, big deal two years ago inserting him into the lineup. Curry deserved it, I think he gets it this time around.
X-Factor: Klay Thompson. I think they can win without him, but if Klay gets back to going where Klay’s been. He’s really struggled shooting the ball but it hasn’t effected them. They can still win if he’s not playing great, but if he gets it going along with Durant and Curry, then they might not even make it to six games. It’s weird taking an Olympian and an All-Star as an X-factor, but I’ll take Klay.
John Lund: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 5.
MVP: Kevin Durant
X-Factor: Nobody is talking about Tristan Thompson. I picked the Warriors in five, but if he has a big series this could go further than five games.
Ray Woodson: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 6
MVP: Steph Curry
X-Factor: Andre Iguodala’s knee. If he’s right, he will make LeBron less efficient.
Ryan Covay: KNBR 680 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 6
MVP: Kevin Durant
X-Factor: Andre Iguodala’s health. Last year he was unable to slow down LeBron in the final few games after tweaking his back. If he stays healthy throughout a physical series, there’s just too many defenders for LeBron to get past.
Kevin Frandsen, KNBR 1050 Host, former Giant
Series prediction: Warriors in 5. Defensively, the Cavs cannot keep up with the Warriors. Offensively, Cleveland will need to shoot about 55 percent to makeup for their suspect defense.
MVP: Kevin Durant. A true “coming out” party and a big middle finger to all of the haters.
X-Factor: Klay Thompson. Defensively he’s been money all postseason, despite not shooting like normal. He might be smelling blood after Kyrie Irving’s heroics. But he’s still played unbelievable defense two years in a row. I’d expect a third.
Drew Hoffar, KNBR 1050 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 7
MVP: Steph Curry
X-Factor: The Warriors have not played a lot of minutes. A lot of guys have had a lot of rest. They haven’t played basketball for long stretches of time, so when it comes down to it and we get to Games 6 and 7, I think Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and the rest of the group will have enough energy to take LeBron and the Cavs down.
Rudy Ortiz, KNBR 1050 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 5 (but if it goes to Game 7, I’m giving it to the Cavaliers 100 percent).
MVP: Kevin Durant
X-Factor: It’ll be Draymond Green and his story of redemption.
Ted Ramey, KNBR 1050 Host
Series prediction: Warriors in 7
MVP: Draymond Green
X-Factor: A big game from Klay Thompson will swing the series — ala the Oklahoma City Game 6 in last year’s Western Conference.
Kevin Jones, KNBR.com Reporter/Columnist
Series prediction: Warriors in 7
MVP: Draymond Green
X-Factor: The new Big 3: Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee and David West. Golden State’s new front line is enough to combat Tristan Thompson and win a decisive Game 7 in Oracle Arena.
Josh Lander, KNBR.com Director of Digital Content
Series prediction: Warriors in 7
MVP: Kevin Durant
X-Factor: I can’t say KD, can I? I think it’s KD, because at the end of the day, KD is going to make up for all those lapses the Warriors had against the Cavs in random moments last year. I think he’s going to have the ability against the big Cavs defense that Steph didn’t have. Once the big guys came on Steph at the end, he wasn’t able to take everyone off the dribble. KD can shoot over anybody on the Cavs.
